Wakara's War

Wakara was a leader of the Ute Native Americans in Utah. He was also known as Wakarum,[1] Walkara, Walkar, Wacker, Wacherr, Watcher, and his white name Walker.[2] Wakara means "yellow" or "brass"[3] in the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It is thought that Wakara went by that name because of his preference for yellow buckskin. The physical characteristics of the land largely separated Wakara's band from other Ute and Shoshone Indians in that area. They subsisted mainly on a hunter-gatherer diet, roaming the land to find the sustenance and supplies that they needed to survive. This was greatly aided by the influence of horses in the Ute culture, especially with Wakara as chief. He was known as the "Napoleon of the Desert",[4] a nickname given for his cunning and strategy in horse raids. Wakara's band had a very profitable slave trade with the Spaniards, in which they traded captives from other tribes for European goods.

A statue of Chief Walkara at Pioneer Heritage Gardens in Manti, Utah.

Wakara was the chief of the Paiute Indians at the time that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), commonly referred to as the Mormon pioneers, began to arrive in the Utah Valley and settle the land around 1847. The pioneers were fleeing from religious persecution in Illinois and Missouri and believed that religious freedom would be found outside the United States in lands at the time claimed by Mexico.[5] The Mormons were led west from Illinois by their religious leader, Brigham Young, who was revered among them as a prophet. The Mormon settlers did not account for the indigenous tribes of the Goshute, Ute, and Shoshone whose territory they were wanting to settle outside the Salt Lake Valley, which led to protracted, and at times violent, conflicts. The Salt Lake Valley was claimed by none of the four surrounding tribes making it an ideal settling place for the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Walker War is not necessarily considered a war, rather it is more considered a series of raid attempts of the Utes on the settlers. These raids led the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to come back at the Utes with force as well. However, that was not the original intent of the religious settlers. Their original intent was to use a plan to defend themselves and attempt to improve their relations with the Utes.[9][10]

Towards the end of July 1853, a man named General Wells, from Salt Lake City, commanded a number of troops to go and attempt to stop the Utes, who they believed were marching to attack a town of members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Wells was specific in his instruction to not attack the Utes, but to try to capture Chief Wakara of the Ute Indians, while trying to keep peace. This did not happen, because Well’s orders were not received in time. A man named Colonel Conover took the group of troops and attacked, not knowing of General Well’s orders. He went with a group of about one hundred and fifty armed men to pursue these Native Americans. The effects of this event were very large and severe. This event led to many months of attacks from both the Utes and the settlers.[9][11]

After hearing about this incident, President Brigham Young sent a letter of apology for what had happened to Chief Wakara. He even included some tobacco with his letter so that Wakara might accept it better. From this moment on, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would put in a strict defense system to protect themselves, and those who did not abide by the orders of the First Presidency of the Church were to be taught well their lesson so that they would then obey the orders. The members of the Church began to move all of their cattle and livestock to Salt Lake to be able to protect them. The Ute Indians decided to use this to their advantage. They would begin to raid these groups of livestock and steal them as they were being moved. Part of Governor Young's plan to defend and keep safe the Members of the Church, was to stop all trade and exchange with the Ute Indians, as to avoid any confrontation with them. However, it was difficult to completely avoid all confrontation. There were instances in which settlers sneak into the Indian camps and find stolen livestock, and when they found the people who did it, many times they would kill the Indians. Both sides would continue to provoke and anger each other for a long time. Although there were various murders from both the Utes and the settlers, rarely, if ever, was there ever a large confrontation of the 2 groups that would be considered a battle. They are described more like raids or small conflicts than a traditional war.

The Utes gave the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints various chances to pay for their wrongdoings, yet many times the members of the Church could not provide what the Utes asked for, or they did not believe that they owed the Utes anything. So, the battles would continue from the latter part of 1853 to early 1854. Then, Chief Wakara decided that he wanted to stop the violence and make peace with the settlers. So, on multiple occasions he attempted at making peace. However, Chief Wakara wanted payments through cattle, guns, whiskey, and many gifts if peace were to be made. On May 11, 1854, the war was officially ended. Chief Wakara and Brigham Young met and came to an agreement and decided to end the bloodshed. The specifics of the agreement are not exactly known, as there is no copy of the proceedings of the treaty to be found. However, there have been some pieces of evidence that show that there were some gifts given for horses that had been stolen.[9][2][11]

Although the war had officially ended, that did not mean that there would be no violence between the Utes and the settlers from there on. Chief Wakara would end up dying in 1855, and the peace would then be lost again. The bloodshed between the settlers would continue in following years.[10][11] The Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Utes would find themselves in conflict again during the Tintic War, which took place just a year after the death of Chief Wakara. Although the war was not primarily between the two groups, yet the Utes were stealing some livestock of the settlers, which would lead to the violence. They would also meet again in the Black Hawk War a few years later. The violence finally stopped when the U.S. Government removed the Native Americans from the area, effectively stopping the bloodshed between the settlers and the Utes.